Nursing care
plan for dementia
1. Planning
goal/outcome
Short term
goal
- The client will be able
to maintain physical care with less assistance after 15 days of
nursing intervention
Long term
goal
- With assistance from a
caregiver, the client will be able to interrupt non-reality-based
thinking and promote his or her level of functioning and learn and
recall previous capabilities at the end of nursing
intervention
2. Nursing
diagnosis
- Self-care deficit
related to cognitive impairment.
- Inability to complete
tasks or activities and recent memory loss.
- The risk of falls
related to cognitive impairment.
3. Nursing
intervention
- Build rapport through a
calm, supportive approach in interaction
- Assess the client: How
is the client able to meet his/her basic needs and who is residing
with the client
- Observe clients
closely. It helps to check whether the client has delusional
thinking and a desire for violence. Ensure client safety is a
nursing priority.
- Check judgment,
orientation, memory, and cognitive abilities
- Orient client:
Frequently orient clients to reality and surroundings. Allow
clients to have familiar objects around him or her; use other
items, such as a clock, a calendar, and daily schedules, to assist
in maintaining reality orientation.
- Encourage caregivers
about patient reorientation. Teach prospective caregivers how to
orient the client to time, person, place, and circumstances, as
required. These caregivers will be responsible for the safety of
the client after discharge from the hospital.
- Organize structured
routine activities based on his/her abilities.
- Provide a good
environment and adequate sleep.
- Enforce with positive
feedback. Give positive feedback to the client at the time of
thinking and behavior are appropriate, or not based in reality.
Positive feedback helps to increase self-esteem and improves the
desire to repeat suitable behavior.
- Explain simply. Use
simple explanations and face-to-face interaction when communicating
with clients. Do not shout the message into the client’s ear.
Speaking slowly and in a face-to-face position is most effective
when communicating with an elderly individual experiencing a
hearing loss.
- Discourage
suspiciousness of others. Express reasonable doubt if the client
relays suspicious beliefs in response to delusional thinking.
Discuss with the client about the potential personal negative
effects of constant suspiciousness of others.
- Avoid the cultivation
of false ideas. Do not permit the rumination of false ideas. When
this begins, talk to the client about real people and real
events.
- Assist the client in
daily activities
4.Rationale
- Trust is important for
asking for help and for building relationships. It also helps to
remove the paranoid nature
- A client with dementia
prompting to complete the task
- Maintain a good
psychosocial environment for increasing memory recall and prevent
mood changes
- Ensure safety
environment for avoiding fall and accidents
- The client will be able
to lessen the dependency on the caregiver and able to function with
integrity
5.evaluation
- The client becomes able
to wear the dress with minimal assistance
- The client will be
participative in activities or tasks like fixing and feeding at
their own level of ability than the previous level.
- The client will try to
learn or relearn the task
- With help of a
caregiver, the client is able to separate reality-based and
non-reality-based thinking.
- Caregivers become able
to verbalize ways in which to orient clients to reality, as
needed.
Nursing note on
Dementia
Dementia is defined as
the loss and damage of previous levels of cognitive, executive, and
memory function in a state of full alertness. Dementia is a
long-term disorder of the mental functions caused by brain disease
or injury, memory disorders, personality changes, and impaired
reasoning. Dementia is a group of thinking and social symptoms that
inhibits daily functioning characterized by damage of at least two
brain functions like memory loss and judgment.
Symptoms are forgetfulness, imperfect social
skills, and impaired thinking abilities that interfere with daily
activities.
The following
symptoms have been identified with the syndrome of
dementia:
- Memory damage decreased
the ability to learn new information or difficulty to recall
previously learned information.
- Difficulty in abstract
thinking, judgment, and impulse control.
- Difficulty in language
ability, difficulty naming objects. In some cases, the individual
may not speak at all (condition of aphasia).
- Personality
changes
- Difficulty to perform
motor activities despite unbroken motor abilities
(apraxia).
- Disorientation.
Patients may feel confused regarding the current place, time, and
names of persons who are close with.
- Wandering. With the
effect of disorientation, patients with dementia may wander from
one place to another.
- Delusions are commonly
present (especially delusions of persecution).
Medication and
therapies may help manage symptoms.